Friday Favorites!

Today I am linking up with Momfessionals for Friday Favorites! This is my first time linking up with them so I'm super excited!

Favorite Book:  The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel is one of the greatest books I've ever read.  It perfectly weaves together a story of love, history, and secrets!  I was completely intrigued by the storyline as well as the historical side to the story.  I definitely recommend it!

Favorite Recipe:  As I've begun my journey into getting fit and eating healthier, I've tried out multiple new recipes that I would've never tried before.  One of my favorites was Baked Cauliflower Nuggets! I was truly impressed with them.  They were healthy and delicious and I will definitely make them again!

Favorite Vacation:  Because I had a baby in April, we decided to not take an actual family vacation this summer.  But we have been very blessed in that we have gotten to go to our family cabin, FOREST VIEW CABIN, at Lake Tenkiller here in Oklahoma multiple times! It is beautiful and incredibly relaxing.  We are heading there one last time this weekend and I can't wait!  Like us on Facebook!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great Friday!
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What I've Read - What You Should Be Reading!

I heart reading. I am obsessed with it. I can sit down with a good book for hours on end and love every moment of it.

The best thing that has ever happened to me is my Kindle. And second in line is my subscription to Kindle Unlimited.  I can read tons of books for free, and I get a discount on the books that aren't free. I live for my Kindle!

Because of that I have decided that I want to blog about the books I read- just little tidbits about them to encourage you to pick them up and give them a try!

Up First::  A Tracers Trilogy by Laura Griffin

A group of forensic experts (The Tracers) 

who help homicide detectives solve cold cases.

MYSTERY ♦ SUSPENSE ♦ ROMANCE ♦ ACTION ♦ SCIENCE

Everything you want is found in this trilogy.

Up Next::  The Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day

Gideon and Eva captured my heart far more than Christian and Ana did.  This series knocks 50 Shades out of the park for me and there's a fifth book coming out in the near future! 

I can't wait!

This is an excerpt from Bared to You from the website:

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds… and desires.The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn’t tear us apart…

Please check these books out!  They are totally worth the read!

I'm Back!

It's hard to believe I haven't blogged in 3 months!  To tell you the truth, I had a really rough year last year.  When I blogged I found myself mostly complaining (or wanting to complain) about school, which I knew would only perpetuate my situation, so I stopped altogether. :-(

But it is well into summer now and I'M BACK!

I figured a good way to get back into the swing of things would be to link up with Doodle Bugs for her Five for Friday linky party!  Here we go...

1.  I have always been a reader at heart, but this summer I have been really diving into reading everything possible! Right now I am on my second book by Jodi Picoult!  She is an absolutely incredible author and I loved 'The Pact'.  It is long but absolutely worth the read!  Now I'm reading 'House Rules' and am definitely enjoying it so far!  If you haven't read any books by her I highly suggest it.  My favorites of the summer so far have been the Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day (AMAZING!)  and all 3 books by Gillian Flynn, which absolutely rocked my world!

2.  I am having a blast this summer with my baby girl!  Being at home with her last summer was fun, but this summer she is able to do so much more and I enjoy every minute I spend with her!  Here are a few pics from last week!

Swimming at her great aunt's house!

SO BEAUTIFUL!

Playground Fun

Who doesn't love to lounge around in a ball pit?!

3. I got a sewing machine for Christmas but just over the summer I have finally found time to create a couple of cute projects!  I actually rented quite a few books from the library the other day with tips and tricks for beginners and I've already learned a lot from them.  Here are a few projects I've completed lately!

First dress I made for Olivia!

Keychain wristlet!

DIY Makeup Bags!  My friends is on top (more like a little pencil bag!!) and mine is on bottom!!

Super cute purse I made Friday!

4. I have just found one of the coolest apps of all time!  If you haven't heard of it yet, check out Time Hop!  You can sign in through your Facebook and each day it alerts you when your Time Hop is ready.  It shows you status updates and photos that you posted on that day from previous years!  It has almost brought me to tears a few times when I have seen pics of my baby girl when she was little bitty!  I really love it!

4 years ago today I was preparing for my wedding!

Olivia and I on Father's Day 2 years ago!  She looks so funny!

5. This week the hubby and I have watched a few movies together, and surprisingly I have liked them all!  Here they are...a few are old and a few are newer!

Once again, it feels so good to be back!  I want to get connected again and to get pumped for the new school year!  I just know that this year is going to be soooooo much better than last year!

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So Many Things!

I have so many things I want to share this evening!!!!

Today and yesterday my district had SNOW DAYS!  Yesterday I got to spend the whole day at home with my precious baby and my sick husband.  He is feeling much better today but had 'the crud' the entire week.

Today I woke up and realized that we have parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday night and that I was completely unprepared because of missing school!  I met up with some of my coworkers and we had lunch and then went to school to get stuff ready.  I'm hoping that we actually get to have conferences since we are expected to get more snow Monday/Tuesday!

MY NEWEST PRODUCT!!!

I created a new product on TpT that I am super proud of!  It is a set of Task/Scoot cards that allows students to practice naming fractions, decimals and mixed numbers on a number line!  It asks students to find which letter best represents a given fraction, decimal or mixed number, as well as fill in the missing number, write a number that is less than a given fraction, decimal or mixed number, and MUCH MORE!  I am really excited to use it in my room!  If we wouldn't have had two snow days this week I already would've!  Check it out HERE!!!!!

On another note, I have found this AMAZING app called OverDrive!

It is an app in which you can add your public library to your account and E-Rent books from there for FREE!  All you have to do is create an Adobe ID and have a library card.  I have put it on my classroom set of iPads and so far my two students who have library cards love it!  I am super sad that only two of my students have public library cards.  I am going to get library card applications soon to send home with my students to hopefully encourage their parents to get them one!

The book I read this week on OverDrive is called Gone Girl, by Jillian Flynn.  It was an incredible read, I couldn't put it down.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, until the end! I cannot believe how it ended.  Blah.  I highly recommend it if you like crime/thriller/plot-twisty/adult novels!   Check it out! After I read The Confession by John Grisham, I am going to read another one of her novels!  Can't wait!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

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Five for Friday Linky!

T.G.I.F!!!!

My five random things from this week...

1.  My newest obsession:  Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus and Doritos!  The mixture is perfect! I've seriously been munching on it allllll day!  Nom Nom!

2.  I tried the game called 'Scoot' to review mental math today!  One of my co-workers found it on TpT and showed it to me so I created my own.  My kids loved it!  I personally thought it took a long time (because I have so many students) but they didn't seem to mind at all!  They really loved checking their answers and seeing how many they got right!  Great review game!

3.  I have the cutest daughter in the entire world!  The other morning my husband asked me to fix her 'bed hair' so I threw it up into a little ponytail and put a big bow in it!  Come on...how adorable is this picture????!!!

4.  Today I taught a lesson on creating vivid imagery using synonyms.  My students loved taking words from passages and transforming the "voice" using what we call 'fifth grade words'!  It was a huge success!  I even had them write their own short passage with words that second graders could read and understand.  Then I asked them to give their passage to another group and have them re-write it using synonyms so that it sounded like a fifth grader would want to read it.  LOVED IT!

5.  This week we began using our Science Weekly!  My students really enjoyed it.  There is almost zero time in our curriculum for Science so they jumped for joy (literally) when I passed out these newspapers!  I had some really good pictures of my students working with them but for some reason they won't upload!  Check out the newspaper HERE!  Have you used it?  If so, let me know what you think!

Post your Five for Friday and link back up to Doodle Bugs here!

Thanks for reading!

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